ZOOMORPHIC SPOUTS FROM CENTRAL THAILAND
Thanik Lertcharnrit
Department of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, Bangkok; [email protected]
There is still much to discuss and further investigate
about the site, as a large number of artifacts have been unearthed during the past five years of archaeological research
there. However, this paper focuses on an uncommon class of
artifacts, the zoomorphic spouts found during the 2007 excavation. These spouts were found in a habitation layer dating
roughly to the Dvaravati period (ca. 6th - 8th centuries AD)
based on assemblage content. The Dvaravati context lies
above the Iron Age context, and it is composed of artifact
classes that are characteristic of the Dvaravati period, including carinated pots, silver coins, spouted pot, clay coins, and
small, round glass beads. It should be noted that Dvaravati
culture is generally characterized as a culture strongly influenced by Indian ideology as expressed in religious and artistic material remains, as well as settlement pattern with moats
and earthen walls (Indrawooth 2005; Saisingh 2004). The site
of Promtin Tai yields a multitude of artifactual remains typical of this Dvaravati culture assemblage. It is also a moated
town measuring approximately 700 by 800 meters (Wanasin
and Supajanya 1981), and serves as a center of Dvaravati
communities in a lowland area at the time (Mudar 1999).
Accordingly and remarkably, excavations at the site by the
author have unearthed a relatively large number of spouts of
varying shapes and forms; one of the forms is a group of zoomorphic spouts—an uncommon type of spouts found at
Dvaravati sites in Thailand.
ABSTRACT
The archaeological site of Promtin Tai in Lopburi Province,
central Thailand, is a multi-activity site occupied over the
course of several hundred years. The site has been excavated
successively by the author since 2004, yielding evidence for
various activities ranging from habitation and mortuary rites
to copper smelting and probably trading. The chronology of
the site has been dated using stratigraphic information and
cultural materials; absolute dating samples have been collected and sent for dating, but results have yet been reported
from the laboratory. Archaeologically, the site represents a
community with strong evidence of early long distance trade
and cultural contact with India and developed from an Iron
Age village to early historic town.
INTRODUCTION
The archaeological site of Promtin Tai in Lopburi Province,
central Thailand (Figure 1), is a multi-activity site occupied
over the course of several hundred years, spanning the late
prehistoric to early and later historic periods (see Lertcharnrit
2006; Srichai 1991). The site has been excavated successively by the author since 2004, yielding evidence for various
activities ranging from habitation and mortuary rites to copper smelting and probably trading (Lertcharnrit 2006). The
chronology of the site has been dated using stratigraphic information and cultural materials; absolute dating samples
have been collected and sent for dating, but results have yet
been reported from the laboratory. Archaeologically, the site
represents a community with strong evidence of early long
distance trade and cultural contact with India and developed
from an Iron Age village to early historic town. It is one
amongst a relatively small number of large early historic settlements in central Thailand that potentially provide an insight into the emergence of early complex and state-level
society in Thailand and Southeast Asia (see Mudar 1999;
O’Reilly 2007).
SPOUTED VESSELS
Spouts are part of a distinctive kind of vessel widely known
as kendi, “ritual water pot,” or “sprinkler” (Phasook Indrawooth, personal communication, 2010). Most scholars
who specialize in earthenware ceramics call spouted vessels
“kendi,” the Malay term borrowed from the Sanskrit word
“Kundi,” which literally means “water pot” (e.g. Adhyatman
1987; Khoo 1991). Spouted pots have a long history of use,
beginning in prehistoric periods and continuing into modern
times, and have been found across the world. The origin of
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BULLETIN OF THE INDO-PACIFIC PREHISTORY ASSOCIATION 31, 2011
Figure 1. Map of major Dvaravati sites in north-central Thailand.
the spouted pot form is largely speculative, and it is possible
that they were first produced somewhere either in South Asia
or Southeast Asia (Rooney 2003).
In Southeast Asia, archaeologists have mostly uncovered
spouted pots from early historic sites, both in mainland and
island Southeast Asia, including Burma (Stargardt 1990),
Cambodia (Stark 2000), Malaysia (Khoo 1991), Thailand
(Indrawooth 1985, 2004), Vietnam (Tan 2003), Indonesia
(McKinnon 2003), and the Philippines (Main and Fox 1982).
Although early spouted vessels in Southeast Asia vary in
style, color, and form (e.g. Mundardjito et al. 2003: Figure
9.2; Rooney 2003), most of them do share one notable characteristic: they are made of fine-grained clay or have a fine
paste (Indrawooth 1985; Stark 2003). This has led to speculation that early spouted pots might have been made at a few
particular production centers and then distributed across the
region (Indrawooth 1985). However, a number of orange
earthenware spouts made of coarse-grained paste have been
uncovered (Figure 2) from recent excavations by the author
at Promtin Tai in central Thailand, together with finetextured buff spouts (Figure 3). The color (orange) and
coarse texture of the spouts are similar to those of other types
of local vessels found at the site, suggesting the co-existence
of non-local and local production of this type of ceramic vessel, which is a common phenomenon at Dvaravati sites
across central Thailand.
In Thailand, archaeological evidence suggests that spouted pots were probably first made during the Late Prehistoric
period, no later than approximately 500 BC, at the time of
early contact with India (Bellina and Glover 2004; Surapol
Natapintu, personal communication, 2010). It is apparent
from the archaeology, however, that these earthenware vessels gained the greatest popularity during the Dvaravati period, and they are considered one of the diagnostic artifacts of
this period (e.g. Indrawooth 1985). While there is no doubt
that spouted pots were commonly used in Dvaravati communities, their function is still poorly known. They could have
been used as pouring vessels in a religious ritual as seen in
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LERTCHARNRIT: ZOOMORPHIC SPOUTS FROM CENTRAL THAILAND
Figure 2. A coarse-grained earthenware spout from
Promtin Tai.
Figure 3. Common Dvaravati spouts from Promtin Tai.
Figure 4. A hamsa-shaped spout from Promtin Tai (side
view).
Figure 5. A hamsa-shaped spout from Promtin Tai (front
view).
India (Coomaraswamy and Kershaw 1928-1929); conversely
these pots could have had a role as part of the domestic life of
the Dvaravati people, since they have been normally found in
habitation contexts. Spouted pots continued to be used after
Dvaravati during the Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, and Rattanakosin
periods (Rooney 1987; Spinks 1978). However, most postDvaravati spouted pots are glazed stoneware vessels, and
some are made of metals, such as bronze, silver, and brass
(see e.g. Rooney 2003).
It should be noted that complete Late Prehistoric and
Early Historic spouted vessels are rare; they have been mostly found in broken or fragmentary condition. The part of the
vessel that has been most commonly found in archaeological
assemblages is the spout. The spouts of early vessels that
have been unearthed from archaeological sites in Southeast
Asia come in a wide variety of geometric forms with and
without decoration, including conical, globular, and S-shape
(e.g. Tan 2003: IV-3). They also vary in length.
ZOOMORPHIC SPOUTS FROM PROMTIN TAI
The 2007 excavation at the site of Promtin Tai yielded a substantial number of spouts of varying forms, including geometric and zoomorphic spouts. The most common spouts
found are geometric examples made of fired clay, while only
three zoomorphic spouts were found. The zoomorphic spouts
found during the 2007 excavated at Promtin Tai include two
naga (serpent)-shaped spouts and one hamsa (goose)-shaped
spout.
Based on stratigraphic data, the hamsa-shaped spout is
relatively older than the naga-shape spouts. It was found in a
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BULLETIN OF THE INDO-PACIFIC PREHISTORY ASSOCIATION 31, 2011
Figure 7. A naga-shaped spout from Promtin Tai (side
view).
Figure 6. A naga-shaped spout from Promtin Tai (front
view).
Figure 8. Fragment of a naga-shaped spout from Promtin Tai.
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LERTCHARNRIT: ZOOMORPHIC SPOUTS FROM CENTRAL THAILAND
Figure 9. A zoomorphic spout from U-Thong.
domestic context in the Iron Age layer together with other
artifactual and ecofactual remains including ceramic sherds,
stone beads, spindle whorls and animal bones. The piece
comes in the form of the head of the mythical bird with two
eyes and a beak (Figures 4 and 5). The maximum length of
the spout is about five centimeters and the beak is 1.5 centimeters long. It is made of fine-grained clay, with a burnished,
red-colored surface (yellowish red when measured with the
Munsell Soil Color Charts - 5 YR 5/6).
The two naga-shaped spouts were unearthed in the upper
stratigraphic layer dating to the Dvaravati period. Like the
hamsa-shaped spout, they were found in association with
household refuse in a habitation area of the site, including
animal bones, glass beads, potsherds, and fresh-water shell
remains. One of the pieces is easily identified as a naga because it clearly exhibits characteristics of a cobra, such as an
expanded hood (about 5.5 centimeters wide) and hood marks
below the head (Figures 6 and 7). The hole of the spout is 4.5
centimeters long, and is equivalent to the length of the spout.
The other piece is broken and, even though the head and the
mouth are missing (Figure 8), it is identifiable on the basis of
the presence of strips on the neck and an expanded hood.
Both pieces are made of fine-grained clay with reddish brown
surface color (when measured with standard Munsell Soil
Color Charts).
Comparative information from other sites is very limited.
A spout, in the form of makara (Figure 9), has been reported
in the collection of the national museum at U-Thong. It was
found at that ancient town, a Dvaravati site in west-central
Thailand, but the context of discovery is unknown. To date,
Promtin Tai is the only early historic site where multiple examples of zoomorphic spouts are known to have been found
in controlled excavations.
among the rarest spout forms found thus far in Southeast
Asia. As for the late Iron Age hamsa-shaped spout, it appears
that this piece is one of the earliest zoomorphic spouts yet
found in Southeast Asia. Although there are spouted pots or
kendis found in Thailand made in the overall form of a hamsa
(sacred goose), all of these are younger than the Iron Age,
and most of them postdate the Dvaravati period (e.g. Guerin
and Oenen 2005; Rooney 2003). The two animals (naga and
hamsa) are significant symbols in both Buddhism and Hinduism; the naga has been worshiped by several indigenous Hindu groups in India and Nepal as a sacred ancestral animal
(Majupuria 1991:182-191), while hamsa has numerous significant meanings to Buddhists and Hindus, such as the symbol of knowledge, the symbol of the beginning of new life,
and the symbol of creation (Majupuria 1991:178-180).
Therefore, the zoomorphic spouts at Promtin Tai suggest the
importance and function of spouted vessels as religious and
ritual objects even in daily domestic contexts in the early
historic communities in Southeast Asia in general and in central Thailand in particular. Finally, it would be interesting to
see the complete form of the vessels with zoomorphic spouts,
in the case that they are different in form from examples with
“common” or non-zoomorphic spouts.
The incidence of zoomorphic spouts at Promtin Tai apparently suggests that the site was an important Dvaravati
community, serving as a regional center of the “Dvaravati
Kingdom”, as this uncommon and exotic type of spouts
might have been used by special and prestigious persons, or
religious leaders in the community. The iconographic data of
the spouts confirm the strong general Indian influence on
local/indigenous people in Southeast Asia during the early
historic period, and supports the argument that a relationship
between South Asia and Southeast Asia was well-established.
CONCLUSION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) for
funding the fieldwork at the site. My sincere thanks are also
The zoomorphic spouts discussed above came from welldocumented provenances and well-defined contexts, and are
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BULLETIN OF THE INDO-PACIFIC PREHISTORY ASSOCIATION 31, 2011
due to Wesley Clarke for encouragement and support. I also
thank the Director of the National Museum of U-Thong in
Suphanburi Province for permission to study the museum
collections and take photos of a zoomorphic spout. Anonymous reviewers are thanked for their valuable comments and
suggestions.
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